Most people have heard of Louis Pasteur, a famous French biologist and chemist who lived during the 19 th century and invented “pasteurization.” As a proponent of the “germ theory of disease” (the belief that disease is caused by germs), Pasteur is one of the fathers of modern medicine.  However there were equally well-known scientists in Pasteur’s day who didn’t agree with him. Germs, they argued, couldn’t gain a foothold in a truly healthy body.  Chief among these critics was physiologist Claude Bernard. Bernard held that our body’s “inner terrain” (or immune system) determines our health. He is unknown today because his ideas lost out to the germ theory. But Pasteur himself is reputed to have said on his deathbed, “Bernard was right. The microbe [germ] is nothing; the terrain is everything.”  So it’s dismaying that the advice given to the public regarding COVID-19 seems to be based on the theory that “the virus is everything; the terrain…

Although hand sanitizers and other antiviral cleaning products are disappearing from supermarket shelves, you may already have all the products you need to combat COVID-19, and they’re non-toxic and cheaper. Much of the information here is taken from a recent article in Consumer Reports. COVID-19 is enveloped in a coating that allows it to merge with our body cells and infect them.  If you can disrupt this coating, you can deactivate the virus.  Fortunately, this is pretty easy to do. Soap and water do this job very well. The friction from scrubbing a surface with soap and water can break the virus’s protective coating. The operative word here is “scrub.”  Don’t just wipe the surface lightly; bear down as if you’re removing dirt or something sticky.  Leave the rag you’ve used in a bowl of soapy water for a while to destroy any remaining virus particles.  (A note of interest, if the virus makes its way inside your body, vitamin D…

When Dr. John J. Cannell was a psychiatrist working at a state prison hospital, unlike fellow doctors he gave his patients nutritional supplements to help them achieve better mental health.  Among these supplements were relatively large doses of vitamin D.  When a virulent influenza epidemic hit the hospital, every ward fell prey to the disease … except his ward, which remained disease free! This was one of many experiences with vitamin D that motivated Dr. Cannell to found the Vitamin D Council, a nonprofit educational organization that promotes vitamin D research and publicizes the widespread vitamin D deficiencies in our world population that have been implicated in all kinds of disease, including arthritis, cancer, heart disease, depression, diabetes, inflammation, musculoskeletal disorders, neurological problems, women's health issues, and weak immunity.  One reason the Coronavirus is ripping through the world’s population so ferociously is that coll…

The good news about COVID-19 is that we can defeat this virus!  We’re learning more all the time about how to avoid contact with it, but even if the virus should find its way into our bodies, we can fortify our immune systems with nutrients comprising a mighty internal armoring system. Combining vitamin C, vitamin D, quercetin and zinc with a good diet and a high-quality multivitamin-mineral offers powerful protection against any virus that comes our way.   Ignored, minimized and invalidated by major media, building and maintaining a strong immune system is our only real defense against COVID-19. Focusing only on avoidance and waiting like sitting ducks for a vaccine to save us is dis-empowering and strips us of potent tools that are at our disposal—nutrients that have been shown in numerous studies and clinical situations to ramp up immune defenses in an extremely effective way. It’s not that easy for a virus to take hold in the body. Should it gain entry, it must first att…

As we arm ourselves for our battle with COVID-19, we must not forget zinc.  This is especially true for those over the age of 40, and the need increases with increasing age. According to the US Department of Agriculture, 73% of Americans are deficient in zinc, and deficiency is especially found in older people—even those who report taking zinc supplements.  Zinc is one of the foundation nutrients needed for building a strong immune system. Even a small deficiency can significantly impair immune function. Research over the past twenty years has shown that having adequate zinc reserves in cells inhibits replication of the coronavirus family of viruses, of which COVID-19 is a member. If a virus can’t replicate (reproduce itself), it can quickly and easily be eradicated by the immune system.  Zinc has also been shown to restore vigor to immune cells and to reduce excess inflammation. Controlling excess inflammation is extremely important in COVID-19 infections b…

Government policies that throttle natural medicine are causing real harm right now by hampering our ability to take control of our own health during this pandemic. — Alliance for Natural Health “Some physicians would stand by and see their patient die rather than use ascorbic acid [vitamin C] because in their finite minds it exists only as a vitamin.” — F. R. Klenner, MD We invite you to add your voice to that of the Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) in speaking out about the harm being done by our government’s single-minded focus on finding a pharmaceutical treatment for the COVID-19 virus while restricting what supplement manufacturers may say about the potentially life-saving abilities of vitamins and minerals supplements. Current law makes it illegal for manufacturers to claim that their supplements can help to prevent or treat disease even when good science backs up these claims.  Bedazzled by Big Pharma’s money and power, our government’s position inflates…

What could be more basic to health than breathing pure air and drinking pure water? Yet neither is found in the average home today! This is why we highly recommend both a high-quality air purifier (especially in your bedroom) and a system for treating drinking water for your home. The average American breathes in about two heaping tablespoons of airborne particles daily. And if you think driving in polluted traffic is bad, consider that most indoor air is two to five times, sometimes a hundred times, more polluted than outdoors. Building materials, carpets, furnishings, household appliances, water heaters and furnaces, fumes from household products and more contribute to indoor air pollution, increasing the risk of allergies, asthma, cancer, heart beat irregularities, immune suppression and even genetic mutations that are passed down to future generations. Our Austin Air Filters do a spectacular job in providing fresh, clean, healthy air. Most people order our Austin Air Healthm…

As we envision a healthy future for ourselves, our children, and our planet this month, let’s take a look at cell phones. Although more than 90% of the US population now owns one, cell phones have never been proven safe.  In fact, evidence for their ability to harm continues to accumulate. Although it’s too late to put the genie back in the bottle—we’ve become too dependent on our cell phones to give them up—both adults and especially children must limit cell phone use if we want a healthy future. Nutritionist Anne Louise Gittleman has pointed out that the kind of electromagnetic radiation cell phones emit causes subliminal stress that raises blood pressure and cortisol (a stress hormone) levels, alters blood sugar regulation, lowers thyroid hormone output and can interfere with getting a good night’s sleep. Cell phones also affect fertility and have been linked in children with behavioral disorders, learning difficulties and depression. Of particular concern have been…

Malnutrition is the leading cause of disease in America, and children’s diets are usually worse than even our malnourished adults.  As a result, sub-clinical nutrient deficiencies are common, and show up as behavior problems, learning difficulties, obesity, anxiety, and depression. More and more children are developing cardiovascular risk factors as early as age three and are suffering from diseases that used to be reserved for older folk, like type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and cancer. No sane parent would deliberately give their child heart disease or cancer. Yet this is exactly what we do by feeding our children disease-causing “foods” like sugar, white flour, milk, ice cream, cookies, candy, cakes, fruit juice, sodas, pizza, breakfast cereals, French fries and various processed foods.  Unfortunately, the same kinds of so-called “foods” are served in school cafeterias, contributing to poor school performance and impaired social skills. Optimal development and fun…

You can feel the excitement in our office. This is the product we’ve all been waiting for! We’re getting super-charged with energy, losing weight if we need to, and feeling better than ever due to our amazing new meal and snack replacement, Berry Meal Blast!  The Solution to the Need for Grab-and-Go Healthy Meals There’s been a crying need for a meal replacement product that’s quick and easy to prepare, tastes great, contains no questionable artificial ingredients, and infuses your day with spectacular nutrition. Well, Beyond Health exists to solve such problems, and for months now our product engineers have been hard at work to create a product that exceeds our high standards for effectiveness, safety and value in every detail, to maximize your health. Berry Meal Blast is finally here! A vegan superfood powder made from berries and other nutrition-packed foods, healing herbs, high-quality vitamins and minerals, and state-of-the-art RNA technology, Berry Meal B…

Spending time in the natural world can normalize our inner “body clock” also known as our circadian rhythm. Attuned to environmental cues like sunlight, temperature, and seasonal changes, our circadian rhythm regulates many physiological processes, including when to sleep and when to eat. Artificial light and electronic devices like computers and televisions give our bodies false cues that have nothing to do with the natural order of things and disrupt our circadian rhythm, which a growing body of research has linked to many mental and physical health problems. Sleep issues are an obvious casualty, as is false hunger leading to overweight and obesity. Circadian rhythm disruption has also been implicated in high blood pressure and heart disease, cognitive dysfunction, neurological problems like Parkinson’s disease, asthma, autoimmune illness, and mental health issues like depression, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and bipolar disorder. A recent University of Colorado study w…

We each have a mighty force of trillions of tiny microorganisms—helpful bacteria and other microbes—living on our skin, in our digestive system, and in tissues throughout the body, that is constantly on guard to defend us against potentially invasive infectious disease-causing pathogens like viruses, yeasts, parasites and harmful bacteria. Discounted for many years by the medical establishment, scientists are now beginning to discover how much we depend on these “good bugs.” Not only do they synthesize vitamins and amino acids and help us to digest and absorb our food, they are also an indispensable part of our immune system. Before a pathogen—bacterial, viral, or fungal—can get into your bloodstream, where it can replicate and become increasingly virulent, it must first get past the formidable fortress created by your skin and mucus membranes. The skin isn’t just a physical barrier; it is an immune system organ, where immune cells and good bugs work together to conquer pot…

This month, it’s all about toxins. According to our founder, Raymond Francis, there is only one disease, malfunctioning cells, and only two reasons cells malfunction: either they don’t have the right materials to work with (deficiency) or they’re being disrupted with the wrong materials (toxins) that interfere with normal cell function.The barrage of manmade toxic chemicals we encounter today is unprecedented, and it’s taking a huge toll on our health.Though it’s still possible to be healthy for life, it takes knowledge and effort—avoiding as many toxins as you can, and using strategies to detoxify your body from those you can’t avoid.We’ve talked about detoxifying your home with air and water filters and recommended detoxing with frequent infrared saunas.But with all the fuss about environmental toxins, you might be surprised to learn that the most potent source of toxins for almost everyone today is digesting and metabolizing food!In making energy from food, the body produces loads o…

The road to health is paved with good intestines. – Unknown Living a long and healthy life depends on good digestion and a strong immune system. Both of these rely on helpful bacteria living in our intestines.  But various factors in modern life, including poor diet, toxins, stress, various medications and especially antibiotics, have diminished our good bug population. As a result, people living today are more vulnerable to infectious disease than ever before. While modern medicine seeks frantically for more and better vaccines and antibiotics to combat infectious disease epidemics, at Beyond Health we take a different approach: We combine the healthy lifestyle described in any of Raymond Francis’s books, a basic supplement program, and probiotics in food and supplements to rebuild and maintain strong immune systems capable of withstanding pathogenic assaults. Probiotics are special microbes that maintain and restore the body’s beneficial bacteria. All traditional soc…

Ask most veterinarians if your pet needs a multivitamin supplement, and you’re apt to get the standard response:  a “balanced diet” should be sufficient, and extra vitamins and minerals may even be harmful. It’s what they’re taught in veterinary school.  Pet food companies play a major role in what veterinary students learn, and these companies would like us to believe that they’re providing an adequate diet for today’s pets, and that anything you might do, from feeding table scraps to giving them un-prescribed supplements is endangering your pet’s health. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Although some are better than others, commercial pet foods are not adequate to support the health of your cat or dog. Like other processed foods, they’re nutritionally deficient and contain toxins. Vitamins and minerals are added in minimal amounts and in cheap forms that are ineffective at best and detrimental to health at worst. An optimal pet diet would be fresh, organic…

There are some taxes you have to pay, or risk going to jail! But others you can avoid, like the tax on your health every time you take an impure, poorly formulated supplement contaminated with solvent residues, artificial colors, and flavors, allergens and/or other potentially harmful chemicals. When shopping for supplements, people often don’t take this tax into account. If they did, they’d realize that the cheapest brands are usually the worst bargains. Not only do these brands provide little or no benefit, they tax your body with toxins that interfere with healthy body chemistry, often doing more harm than good. You may pay good money for something that detracts from rather than adding to your health. Supplement ingredients come in a wide range of purities. The purer the ingredient, the safer and more effective it will be. Although purer ingredients are almost always considerably more expensive, at Beyond Health we use only the purest ingredients available so you get maximum…

Your body is harboring a couple of potential saboteurs! The words saboteur and sabotage come from French mill workers who would throw their wooden shoes, called sabots, into the machinery at work to make it break down or halt as a form of protest. The two potential saboteurs threatening to break down your body are inflammation and oxidation. Both are body processes that are helpful under normal circumstances, but if they get out of control, watch out!  If they’re allowed to develop into chronic inflammation and oxidative stress, they become health saboteurs of the first order and play a major role in every chronic disease, in problems with energy, and in the aging process itself. Unfortunately, almost everyone today is being damaged by these saboteurs. This is how it happens. Inflammation is the body’s response to injury, irritation or infection.  Cutting your finger, for example, will initiate an inflammatory process that enlarges blood vessels (the reason…

Environmental toxins are overwhelming our immune and detoxification systems to make us the most allergy prone people in world history.  Simply drinking a glass of tap water can bombard your body with chemicals that have been linked to allergies and asthma. Allergist Elina Jerschow, MD, and colleagues at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York have linked chlorine-related chemicals known as dichlorophenols, which are found in tap water and in pesticides, with both allergies and asthma. These researchers found that people with the highest levels of dichlorophenols were 80% more likely to have a food allergy and 61% more likely to have both a food allergy and an environmental allergy (like pollen).  Subsequent research found a similar association between asthma and high levels of dichlorophenols in the urine. While more studies are needed to prove the chemicals cause either allergies or asthma, population studies have shown that there is a similar rise in bo…